Hi -

We are trying to set up ASPProtect 7 so that the user is redirected to a specific web page based on their group membership.

For example, immediately upon successful login:

Group 1 members are directed to page A
Group 2 members are directed to page B
Group 3 members are directed to page C

Users will only ever belong to one group.

We tried to use the Redirect_URL feature but it causes the browser to loop.

Could you let us know exactly how to do this.  We are not ASP programmers and need to work from an example.

Thanks!

Hi,

No, only ".asp" files can be protected.  It is the nature of Forms Based Authentication when using web based scripting technologies whether those scripts be ".cgi", ".asp", ".php", or whatever.

To protect entire direcotries at once you really need to run your own webserver and use NTFS permissions and user accounts..... or if something special is installed on the server there may be ways to do it as well. That usually isn't going to happen under a shared hosting account but there are special authentication products for such a thing that some hosting companies do purchase and allow their hosting customers to use.

Using aspprotect we do give working examples of ways to stream and partially protect images and downloads while a user is logged in to an ".asp" page.

Also, any ".htm" pages can simply be renamed to ".asp" if you need to protect them. Links to each other need to be updated of course because of the extension change.

In my opinion the truth of the matter is most high end sites use Forms Based Authentication with scripts. Not directory protection as it is fairly primitive/old school as well as sometimes being confusing for the users of the site because of how the login window from the server often gets stuck behind the browser.. etc etc

If you have a lot of pages in a site that you need to add protection code to then if can often be helpful to use a good Multiple file search and replace program to carefully add the protection code to the top of the source code of the pages. There are even multiple file search and replace programs that can rename extensions which can be helpful for large sites.

For images and graphics you want protect you have to do some work and set up and intelligent system for yourself.

Lastly whether you use https:// or not is no concern to ASPProtect as it works the same under https:// as it does under http://

Your SQL statement to the database is the key.

You want to change the sortby hyperlink on that page so that it will in turn change the dynamic sql statement to sort the way you want

Find

?SORTBY=Date_Created

change it to

?SORTBY=Date_Created+ASC

or maybe

?SORTBY=Date_Created+DESC

One of them is the default anyway, but I cant remember which is which off hand so just try them both till you get the desired result

near the top you can also change the default sortby when thet page is loaded

SORTBY = Request("SORTBY")
If SORTBY = "" Then
 SORTBY = "Name"
End If

there you would use a space though.. not a "+" sign when adding the ASC or DESC

The + sign is only used in the hyperlinks because it means a space for browsers that can't deal with spaces in links

Banners no longer show up on my site ?

If banners were working fine and now they are just not showing up.
1st check to see that you are calling a valid zone with live banners in it.
If you are then most likely this it what hapened.

The web server must have crashed or lost power and now the application variables are in limbo/not working.

I have seen this happen a few times.

Basically the application variable system gets messed up because it was not shut down properlly.

The way to cure it are as follows.

Edit and save a banner in the system. Hopefully that gets things going again.

Hi Chris,

I have a small problem, I have installed asp photo gallery pro on a hosted site, and after eventually getting them to modify permissions on directories it is essentially working, except that it won't delete pictures from an album. If I delete an album the pictures are left in the pictures directory, but the album is no longer displayed. If I then make a new album it is labelled incrementally... ie I had one album "album_ID_1", deleted it created a new album it is labelled "album_ID_2". I would have thought that the new album would be called "album_ID_1" ie taking the place of the deleted one. It seems to me that the delete album function isn't fully working either. My hosting comppany swears that the permissions on the pictures directory are set to full access for everybody. What have I done wrong?

Thank you

Nigel

Installed latest verison  Doesn't seem to have corrected problem.  Still with same message.  I wonder if deleting this user and putting him back in might help.  I have not however tried any other user names and passwords.

Our webhost changed converted all sites from c: to d:, and without us doing anything else, our customers now get the following error message when trying to access our Classifieds site:

***********

Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] Not a valid password.

This means there is most likely a problem with the "ConnectionString" info that you specified.

If you are using a DSN-Less Connection with MSACCESS.

Check that the physical path to the database has been specified correctly.
It has to be perfect and correct. It cannot be specified using "http://" or by using "server.mappath".
It has to be specified like the following example.

ConnectionString = "DBQ=D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\advpass_pro\_database\passwords.mdb;Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};UID=admin;PASSWORD=Xpass"

If this is running on an NT server or Win2000 Server make sure that permissions have been set on the database.
Only the server admins can do this. If you are not the admin you will have to ask for this to be done.

If you are using a System DSN

It is not set up correctly. Again, make sure the permissions have been set for the database and that the system DSN has been set up correctly by the server admins.

************************************************************ *********************

We did everything the web host asked us to do, that is, changed all references to the C drive to new references to the D drive, but the error is still there.  We also never changed any passwords (as far as we can remember).  Can someone please tell us where to look (also which file might tell us what the correct password is in case it has in fact been changed.

Yeah sorry you are right. It works for me

http://www.rottys.net/gallery/default.asp?CatLevel=2&Cat 1_ID=5

I'm using the groups protect feature on my pages. None of them seem to close the session after clicking 'logoff'. I can tell because if I hit the back button and return to the group-protected page, hit 'refresh', the page refreshes, I'm not asked to log in again.

On the other hand, when I open a page that's protected by an access level and click 'logoff' (uses same logoff asp file to logoff), it seems to work fine - if I go back a page and refresh, it asks me to log in.

Just wondering - is anybody else having problems like this? Maybe I screwed something up in the few adjustments I made a while back. Any idea what it might be?

one thing to note... the time period we are talking about is going to to be whatever you have the session timeout set at in the settings.

perhaps making that value lower like 10 minutes is an option for you.. and might help to deal with situation

Need to clarify something..

Your talking about the page where a new user registers right ?
Your not talking about adding a new user from the admin area ?

Either way under no circumstances do I see anything like you are saying happening nor has any other ASPProtect user ever mentioned this probem.

I am going to need to see your site and see this happening. It just makes no sense the way you are describing it.

Also. did you edit the registration page code in any way. If so please revert back to an original copy to ensure this is not some sort of problem introduced by editing the code.

No luck...this is the message

Return To Import / Export Screen.

Active Server Pages error 'ASP 0113'

Script timed out

/members/aspprotect/password_admin/upload_post.asp

The maximum amount of time for a script to execute was exceeded. You can change this limit by specifying a new value for the property Server.ScriptTimeout or by changing the value in the IIS administration tools.

How to set a new users expiration date.

You'll need to edit the "users/add_new_account.asp" with a text editor.

Find this section..

<%
CmdAddUser.Fields("ValidateEmailCode") = ValidateEmailCode
CmdAddUser.Fields("Access_Level") = "4"
' PUT YOUR CODE HERE
CmdAdduser.Update
ID = CmdAdduser("ID")
CmdAdduser.Close
Set CmdAdduser = Nothing
ConnPasswords.Close
Set ConnPasswords = Nothing
%>

You'll want to add code like this right between the Acccess_Level  and Updates section

CmdAddUser.Fields("Expiration_Date") = Date + 60

That will give take todays date and add 60 days to it.
You can of course do whatever you want here.

Actually, any database value for the user can be set during registration.

You can also change the default Access_Level to whatever you like.

Hello Chris:

Yes I'm using the Option Pack.

-Ricardo

the reason being is because when I do installs I do not touch any of your existing content. I only install the base application and make sure everything in it working correctly and also that the example protected pages are working. I do not integrate it with your existing site or edit any of your existing web content. That is up to you

sorry about that, but it would be way too time consuming and editing people's existing pages is a good way to cause a lot of headaches for me and the customer if something goes wrong. Not only that but everyone uses the system differently and it wouldnt make sense for me to be the one doing that based on access levels, groups.. etc etc  which will all be custom to how you want things set up.

more on installation policies here.
http://www.cjwsoft.com/installation_service.asp

Nov 2005

look in the "check_user_inc.asp" file

Thank you that did it !!

SQL Database Creation (NEW INSTALL)

If you are creating a new database do so using SQL enterprise manager.
Create a new database called whatever you like and keep all the default settings. If using an existing sql database skip that step.

Now open up SQL Query Analyzer

unzip the following sql script and open it in query analyser.
2005-02-20_132116_aspprotect_v7_sql_script.zip

VERY IMPORTANT
On the drop down box at the top right make sure your intended database is selected. Otherwise your changes may effect the wrong database in your SQL server.

Then load the script  into the Query Analyzer.  Click the green play button at the top. If everything goes well the response should read something like this.

******************************************************
(1 row(s) affected)
******************************************************

If so the tables have been created in your existing database.

Now make sure an existing or new SQL user has (public / datareader / datawriter) permissions for the new tables. You will be referencing this user in the asp code connection string so this user must be set up correctly. You may need your SQL server admins or hosting company to help you on this step as you may not have access to do this. You may not need to create a user and set permissions as the sql user you were logged in as to use query analyzer may by default get the correct permissions on anything you create.

Regardless, as you can see from this screenshot I made a SQL user called "aspprotectuser" and proceeded to set the permissions for that user. Under database access giving him (public,datareader, and datewriter permissions).


Now, in the ASP files provided with ASPProtect edit "dataconn_inc.asp" with a text editor and modify the connection string info. Be sure to change the info to match your server,username, and password.

Below is an example of valid connection string.

ConnectionString = "Provider=sqloledb;Data Source=poseidon;Initial Catalog=aspprotect;User Id=aspprotectuser;Password=temp;"

The  "Data Source" setting is either the Network Name for the SQL Server or the IP Address. For local servers you can sometimes use an IP of "127.0.0.1" or the name of the local server.

"Initial Catalog" is the name of your database.

Now, in the ASP files provided with ASPProtect edit "dataconn_inc.asp" with a text editor and set the DatabaseType variable to SQL like so.

DatabaseType = "SQL"

[QUOTE=cwilliams]
Is that a real term or just something you named it cause they have like a zillion people using that SQL server?[/QUOTE]

yeah thats it, you buy into a part of the sql server so it's an sql server hotel...

Hi, I have not gotten anything from you about it.

click on the PM button below and send it that way through the forums.

Thanks

I really do not know.. maybe it is a conflict with something else..

I run many instances of aspbanner on my servers and I have every item to log enabled for my iis log files... my stats server software which reads those log files (livestats and smarterstats) have never reported any 404 errors related to (aspbanner/those images)...

I do not know what is happening in your situation..

sorry.

Hello,

If you are using ASPProtect Version 7 it is possible because version 7 supports html emailing. In any other version it would require some custom coding to add html email support. You would have to sort it out by experimenting and editing the emailing code. All the email methods have documentation on the web in some form or another showing how to send html emails.

Also,
sometimes depending on the email component being used and the email client reading the email a link in a text based email will get hyperlinked automatically. For example outlook usually will do that, but it doesn't always in other situations.

Lastly, we have special upgrade pricing should anyone want to upgrade to ASPProtect Version 7. It really has a ton of great features.

Best Regards,

Chris Williams
www.CJWSoft.com

ASPProtect v7 comes with working example code of protecting a file download.

This comes with the system as an example folder with some files in it.

(some of the initial purchaser's of the system might not have that directory.. if that is the case please ask)

Here is how it works...

Basically we protect the file download by only allowing a logged in user to download it. The special ".asp" page we use the stream the file is password protected. It also hides the true location of the file so you can keep your files out of your web or keep them in a folder in your web that does not allow file browsing. Under this scenario even if someone looks at the html source they can not tell where the file really came from and they can only download if they are logged in and you offered them the link to the file.

For the file download protection examples to work you may need to edit some values
in the stream_download.asp file that are valid for your setup.

Look at the source. The values you can edit are commented.

Now, you also need to call a valid "download file name" from the download_link.asp file which is an example of how make a download link to the streamed download.

The only major usability issue I've found to date is multi-zone banners. Cloning is helpful to a point, but then if you have a change to that banner, you have to make the change 6 times or what have you. I think, even at the expense of speed, multi-zone capability for a single banner would be excellent addition. Of course, that supposes I haven't just missed it and it's already there.

We have been using ASP Protect for a while now and are big fans of the program.  We received ASP Banner 8.2 with our puchase which we now have a need for.  I went to put the files on our webpage, and doing nothing else other than locating the directory there, I noticed differences with how ASP Protect operates.  We have customized it a bit and want to keep the 2 programs separate.  the login screen for one showed up on the other, and some ASP Protect pages appeared altered so i immediately deleted ASP Banner.  did I do something wrong, and how can i ensure the 2 programs work completely independant of each other?  We can't risk braking what we're now using but would really like to add banner functionality to some of our pages.  maybe an update to the program before we install?  puchase new software?  Thanks for your help-

Could be a mod I guess - it would be nice to have an option on the admin settings page to lock down access of all pages and redirect to a specified  "lockdown" page upon attempted login.

If I'm updating the large files on the server and someone attempts a download, they'll get a partial ZIP file or an error.